Hello Pat - In Gen 17.17 Abraham "fell on his face" out of respect for
YHWH; only after he had done this did he laugh--he did not laugh so hard
that he fell on his face. Note also in Gen 17.3 Abraham falls on his
face before YHWH; here he doesn't laugh or speak, he just listens. This
seems to be the proper thing to do when visited by YHWH.
I just noticed, however, that Abraham must have _stood up_ after he fell
on his face in Gen 17.3. We hear nothing about what Abraham did or said
while he listens to YHWH's explanation of the covenant in Gen 17.4-16,
but he must have stood up sometime during this speech in order to be
able to fall down again 14 verses later!
Nina Rulon-Miller
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Pat Sloane wrote
. . . .
> I think the earliest OT example of a person not standing on his or her feet is
> when Abraham is told Sarah will bear a son. He laughs so hard he falls on the
> ground, and the passage is not clear on whether he ever gets up from the
> ground, though of course this need not imply he was kneeling before God.
>
> pat sloane
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